Cosas
Cosas welcomes High Court ruling on rewrite of 2 matric exams
Judge Norman Davis on Friday declared the Basic Education Department’s decision unlawful and irregular.
The association planned to hand over a memorandum to both the ANC and to Gauteng Premier David Makhura’s office.
The Congress of South African Students (Cosas) and Educators Union of South Africa (Eusa) want teaching to be halted at private schools after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last week that public schools would go on a four-week break.
Cosas threatened to shutdown private institutions on Monday following government’s announcement last week that all public schools would be closed for four weeks.
The organisation, which has been vocal about the closure of schools since the academic year resumed last month, said pupils are being forced to choose between their lives or an education.
Cosas is one of the groups calling for schools to stay closed as the country heads towards the COVID-19 peak.
Cosas spokesperson Zithulele Ndlela said that they were concerned about the rising number of COVID-19 cases among pupils and teachers.
Earlier on Wednesday, director general Mathanzima Mweli presented the sector’s COVID-19 plan in Parliament, which coud see matrics and grades 7s being the first group of pupils to return to their classrooms.
Black and coloured pupils from Malibu High School claim they were forced to plait their hair and weren't allowed to have afros on Friday.
Botshabelo Ntsube matriculated in 2018 and is studying towards a degree in education in Bloemfontein.
Cosas president John Macheke said that the pupils will be marching to the African National Congress (ANC) headquarters to call on the party to respond to a memorandum of demands that was handed to it in October last year.
The learner and the educator were suspended from the school last week after the video of their argument in a classroom surfaced on social media.
The learner and the teacher were suspended after a video showed the learner pushing her desk against the teacher, who then smacked her across the face during class.
The student body says that it will march to the Union Buildings to hand over a memorandum, calling for the release of Fees Must Fall activists and safety in schools.
Jacob Zuma says he’s been keeping quiet for too long because he was president.
Demonstrators have been calling for an end to the school's Afrikaans-only language policy.
Protesters are demanding that 55 non-Afrikaans speaking pupils be admitted to the school despite the high court’s ruling against this.
At least 27 people were arrested when demonstrations turned violent outside the school on Thursday after a petrol bomb was thrown at a police van.
Chairperson of Cosas in Gauteng Masethembe Maqwaga says they are concerned that the publishing of names could increase the chances of pupils committing suicide.